Rent of a house in Rublyovka became the subject of a bankruptcy case

The case on the complaint of the bankruptcy trustee of debtor was referred to the highest court of Russia. The anti-crisis manager received refusals to satisfy his claim in lower instances and decided to seek justice in the Supreme Court of Russia.  The Economic Board listened to the arguments and urged colleagues to reconsider the case, pointing out the mistakes made.

The question concerned challenging of the lease agreement concluded by the debtor during the period of suspicion. The subject of the agreement was an expensive mansion in Rublyovka, the cost of using which cost the bankrupt company 3.7 million rubles. In addition, the property owner had the right to claim for another 6 million rubles as current payments, which took precedence over the register of creditors’ claims.

The trustee considered the agreement concluded as an attempt to withdraw the debtor's assets and tried to challenge it, but it did not bring any results.

The judges of all three instances did not see any affiliation of the parties, nor an attempt to reduce the bankruptcy estate. They only noted that the lease agreement was concluded on terms favorable for the debtor.

However, the Economic Board expressed disagreement with this position. Three of judges pointed out that the conclusion of a disputed agreement was not economically feasible: it was not clear for what purpose the debtor company rented an expensive mansion. Such objects of real estate were in no way connected with its direct activity.

In the opinion of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, insufficient attention was paid to both the terms of the contract and the suspicion of trustee of the affiliation of the parties to the transaction in the lower instances. As a result, all three court decisions were canceled, and the case was sent for reconsideration (decision № 305-ES21-18487 of December 24, 2021).